We have 5-6 months of winter here in this part of Montana, so we like to enjoy summer as much as possible. The best thing about a 1st gen 4runner is the removable hard top, but whenever I take my top of in the summer it rains. Not like just a sprinkle, I mean it flippin' monsoons for several days. I have farmers offering me money to take my top off it's so predictable.

A few sets of tires ago I had free shipping from 4wheel parts, so I added one of those cheap CJ7/Wrangler bikini tops. It was on sale too so it was like $43 or something ridiculous. This year I finally got around to putting it on.

I made a deal out of flat bar to bolt to the back of the cab and sandwich the front of the top, then the back just got stretched over the roll bar. It wasn't too bad and didn't even balloon out on the highway like some guys have happen. It hung kind of low though and caught a big pond of water in the middle, so I wanted to make a hoop to prop it up in the back. Then I got to thinking it would be nice to have something more substantial.

I attached some 1 1/4" runners to the front bulkhead thing I made before and made them into a hoop in the back. Initially I hung the hoop back past the factory cage but found the top needed something to wrap around to keep it's shape right. I cut about a foot out of the runners and put them back together and the back bends of my hoop ended up right in the rounded seam at the back of the top. Then I bent some short uprights that bolt to the upper factory seat belt mounting points on the stock roll bar.

The middle of the top still hung low in the hoop and made a nice rain water collection system. Not having any gutters or a reservoir to save the water I decided to put some light conduit runners in the middle with a slight bend so water runs off. This eliminated the sag you can see in the photo below.

I added a couple grab handles for rear passengers made from an old BMX bike handle bar, ground down anything that you could get cut on and reinstalled it.

I like it. The whole project was maybe $75 with the tubing and bikini top no flapping, no soft top pond and the sublime open air feeling.

Everybody loves to ride in it with the top off the summer time. Would have been great for cruising back when I wanted to pick up chicks . Luckily I only had a cramped 2 seater pickup back then so I could only get in so much trouble.

Cause a 4runner full of chickies = trouble. Everybody stands up in the back and yells wooohooo and all that, pretty soon the cops show up, etc. That's all fun but I like being a boring old married dude, life is good .

« Last Edit: Jul 07, 2017, 03:24:31 PM by H8PVMNT »

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“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle." -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck" :)bestgen4runner

"I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop " 300K

My boys love it. It makes the air flow real nice but it doesn't beat you up. We were hauling a little girl we have over some times and she thanked me for making it because the sun wasn't baking her back there.

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“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle." -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck" :)bestgen4runner

"I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop " 300K

Finally put the hard top back on. Winter finally got here and snow is in the forecast for tomorrow so it was time to switch back. I was able to stay comfortable with this setup for about 3 months. Really liked the bikini top with the frame, no flapping and a nice wind tunnel effect that kept passengers happy and the wind and rain off the back of my neck. Everybody should have one of these!

Logged

“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle." -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck" :)bestgen4runner

"I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop " 300K